Nicole Yilmaz
EVS Technology Promo
EXPLAINER VIDEO
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Seramount’s Employee Voice Session (EVS) technology is a really cool product that’s like a giant focus group meets an in-depth survey. It lets a company hear from hundreds of employees all over the globe, and gives those employees a safe space for honest answers. To promote EVS, Seramount really needed to show, not tell, and so it was time for a video.
SCRIPTING
This was Seramount’s first time creating an animated video. Their initial script was a jumble of ideas with some great phrases, but no easy thread for the viewer to follow. I helped them cut back on the word count and the jargon, and smoothed out the script to tell a simple, but compelling message.
DESIGN
The first thing I did was actually sit in on an EVS session. The clients wanted a graphical representation of the tool and I knew that seeing how the whole thing worked in real life would help me recapture that feeling in the video.
Seramount had gone through an entire rebrand a few months before so they were still figuring out their design style. Basic shapes and bright colors are at the core of their brand, so I decided to stick to a minimal design with line illustrations and neon pops of color. We tried out a lot of color combinations before landing on white strokes with violet, teal, and yellow fills.
LOGO ANIMATION
Seramount’s logo had also never been animated before. With the tight deadline, I didn’t have time to create a lot of iterations, but it’s something I want to explore in the future. Seramount’s name was inspired by Mt. Saramati, one of the tallest peaks in the world, and their symbol is meant to reflect both a topographical map of the mountain and a human fingerprint. I decided to lean into that by tracing on the symbol’s lines and scaling up the name, like a growing mountain range.
ANIMATION
The design is pretty minimal, so I wanted to have some fun with the animation. After animating each frame, I tried to think of creative ways to get to the next scene, including morphing and match cut transitions. Below are some of my favorites. I also brought in a sound effect because the doors just didn’t feel right without a nice slam. I’m hoping to do more with sound effects in the future.
VOICEOVER
I’ve become the de facto voiceover artist if the client can’t find another person in-house and I enjoyed getting another opportunity to hone that skill. I focused on keeping my tone informative, but conversational, and on avoiding any plosives or sibilance.
AWARDS
Viddy Award (Platinum)
CREDITS
Client: Seramount
Designer + Animator: Nicole Yilmaz
VO: Nicole Yilmaz
Art Director: Joy Drakes
Sound Design + Music Editing: Nicole Yilmaz
Software: Adobe Illustrator, After Effects, and Premiere Pro